Combination of Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay and Nested PCR for Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in Human Serum Samples

A set of universal loop-mediated isothermal amplification （LAMP） primers targeting the flo gene was designed to detect Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato （B. burgdorferi s.I.） in human samples. The sensitivity of LAMP was 20 copies/reaction, and the assay did not detect false positives among 11 other related bacteria. A positive LAMP result was obtained for 9 of the 24 confirmed cases and for 12 of 94 suspected cases. The positive rate of LAMP was the same as that of nested PCR. The LAMP is a useful diagnostic method that can be developed for rapid detection of B. burgdorferi s.I. in human sera. Combination of the LAMP and nested PCR was more sensitive for detecting B. burgdorferi s.I. in human serum samples.

Highly sensitive light-up near-infrared fluorescent probe for detection and imaging of β-glucuronidase in human serum,living cells and tumor-bearing mice

β-Glucuronidase(GUS)plays a key role in tumor initiation,metastasis,and progression,and thus,has been proposed as a promising cancer biomarker.In this study,we designed an enzyme-activatable near-infrared(NIR)fluorescent probe(DCM-βGlcA)for the rapid and accurate detection of GUS activity in vitro,in vivo and ex vivo.The DCM-βGlcA was prepared by linking a glucuronic acid residue to dicyanomethylene-4 H-pyran(DCM).This probe exhibited significant light-up NIR fluorescent signals at 680 nm after reacting with GUS and the Stokes shift could reach 150 nm.The DCM-βGlcA showed a high sensitivity toward GUS and an excellent linear relationship at concentrations ranging between 0 and 4 U L^(-1)(R^(2)=0.9974)with the limit of detection as low as 0.19 U L^(-1).We used the DCM-βGlcA to identify GUS serum levels in both cancer patients and healthy individuals with a similar accuracy as that of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)while being easier and faster to perform.Moreover,the DCM-βGlcA was used for tracking endogenous GUS in living cells,thereby discriminating GUSoverexpressed liver cancer from normal cells.Additionally,the DCM-βGlcA was able to detect and image endogenous GUS in liver cancer tissue and tumor-bearing mouse models.These findings demonstrate the potential of the DCM-βGlcA as a promising tool for detecting and monitoring GUS activity in preclinical applications.

A sensitive and convenient enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method in serum MG7 antigen detection in gastric cancer

Objective To explore a highly sensitive and highly specific method to detect the serum MG7 antigen(Ag)level for early gastric cancer diagnosis.Methods The serum MG7-Ag level was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)method in 116 preoperative gastric cancer patients,63 postoperative gastric cancer patients,41 patients with precancerous lesion,37 pa-

Predictive value of nutritional status and serological indicators in elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment

BACKGROUND Mild cognitive impairment(MCI)in elderly individuals is a transitional stage between normal cognition and dementia.Understanding the risk factors for MCI and identifying those at high risk are extremely important for the elderly population.AIM To analyze the risk factors for MCI in the elderly population and construct a clinical prediction model.METHODS Total 295 elderly individuals presenting with memory loss diagnosed at Wuxi People's Hospital between March 2021 and March 2024 were included.Comprehensive demographic,clinical,and serological data were collected for analysis.Participants were categorized into either an MCI group or a normal group based on their performance on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale.An elaborate clinical predictive model was developed to predict the likelihood of MCI in stroke patients;its accuracy was evaluated using area under curve values and calibration curves.RESULTS The results of the study showed that old age,hypertension,diabetes,hyperlipidemia,smoking,high-salt diet,high-cholesterol diet,decreased red blood count,increased neutrophil lymphocyte ratio and increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were risk factors for the onset of MCI,with A high vitamin diet and elevated high-density lipoprotein cholesterol being protective factors.In addition,the prediction model constructed in this study exhibits good degrees of differentiation and calibration.CONCLUSION The risk factors for MCI are diverse.Early identification of individuals at high risk of MCI can better intervene and improve their quality of life of MCI patients.

A ɑ-KA fluorescent probe for discrimination of blood cancer serum

a-Ketoglutaric acid（a-KA） is an important metabolic intermediate in tricarboxylic acid circle in our body.The mutations of isocitrate dehydrogenase-1（IDH1） and isocitrate dehydrogenase-2（IDH2）, however,will lead to the transformation of a-KA into 2-hydroxyglutarate（2-HG）, which is confirmed to closely related to actue myeloid leukemia（AML）. Therefore it is of great significance to detect a-KA level changes in serum. In this paper, a fluorescent ＂off-on＂ probe CH for a-KA was designed based on naphthalimide fluorophore by introducing a hydrazine group for a-KA recognition and a long alkyl amino chain to enhance PET efficiency and water solubility. Cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide（CTAB） was added toform self-assembly micelles for accelerating the recognition process. CH shows a 28-fold fluorescence enhancement（（I - I_0）/I_0 at 550 nm） over other biological species by optimizing the chemical recognition process of CH with a-KA. Significantly, CH was successfully applied for thefluorescence discrimination of all kinds of blood cancer serum samples. This work would provide a potential method that is quick and convenient for sensing a-KA and may promote fluorescence detection in clinical diagnosis.